Circles of Stone
by surrexi
Summary: Max and Liz go to Stonehenge while on a trip to England and are hurled back in time. While there, they learn some interesting stuff regarding "destiny." Dreamers triumph. ProTESStors beware. (Complete)
1. Exploring London

Part 1 – London, during the reign of Elizabeth II  
  
Liz beamed as she stepped out of King's Cross Station in London. She squeezed Max's hand and gestured to the McDonald's visible from the exit.  
  
"There's the McDonald's, Max. I thought you were hungry." She tugged at his hand as he stood and simply gazed at their surroundings. Max shook himself imperceptibly to all but Liz and turned his gaze to Liz's smiling face.  
  
"I am, Liz. But I think I could have survived all the way to Piccadilly Circus, where I'm sure there are other places to eat."  
  
"Well I wanted to see the outside of King's Cross and St. Pancras anyway, they're such beautiful old buildings. The Mickey D's is right there; we might as well go. Anyway, if we go to a fast food joint we'll have more time to play tourist ourselves before we have to meet up with everybody else."  
  
"Okay, you win," Max conceded, laughing as Liz tugged him towards the crosswalk.  
  
Max and Liz were on a spring trip to England with Michael, Maria, and Kyle. They had a couple hours to themselves before meeting with the rest of the group for dinner and show on the West End, London's equivalent of New York's Broadway. Michael and Maria had wanted to see Trafalgar Square and Kyle had elected to take a nap in the hotel. The group had invited Jesse and Isabel to come, but they had declined. Max and Liz were on their own, their plan being to take the tube to Piccadilly Circus, take touristy photos at the fountain with the statue of Eros, and then stroll down Regent Street and window shop.  
  
After staying in the McDonald's slightly longer than expected due to the huge crowd that always seemed to be present anywhere in London, they returned to King's Cross Station to figure out which train to take to Piccadilly Circus. They were standing to the side of one of the walkways pouring over the little pop-out map of the London Underground Max had bought one of the little news stands that are common in the tube stations.  
  
"I'm telling you, Max. We take the blue line!"  
  
"Liz, there are two blue lines. The Victoria line and the Piccadilly line."  
  
"All right, the Piccadilly line then." Max studied the map a second longer.  
  
"That seems to be the most direct route." Liz hit Max lightly on the shoulder.  
  
"You dumb man! I don't think it's called the Piccadilly line for nothing! Now, how do we get to our train?" Max glanced up at the direction signs hanging from the ceiling.  
  
"We follow the signs." He pointed toward the sign and then took Liz's hand in his and guided her unerringly to the correct platform.  
  
"Damn, you're good at that," she commented as they strode onto the platform just as the next train pulled in. They were lucky and found two empty seats together. They didn't talk much on the way to Piccadilly. They were content just to be together on that train, without people or destinies between them.  
  
When the train pulled into the station, they hurried out to the street above. They splashed in the fountain and took their pictures, then set off down Regent Street hand in hand. Liz would stop every couple of shops and drag Max into the store. She made him try on jeans at the Gap and silly hats at the Disney Store. He bought her a plaid skirt from a store that sold only real Scottish tartan plaids. She bought him a stuffed Marvin the Martian at the Warner Bros. Store. They wandered aimlessly up and down Regent Street, just having fun and being together.  
  
Hours later, they met with Michael, Maria, and Kyle back at the hotel. Liz and Maria traded shopping bags and compared loot while Max and Michael informed Kyle that he was very lucky he didn't have a girlfriend that he was required to spend money on.  
  
"Sure she bought me a present, Kyle," Max explained, "but I paid for lunch, a more expensive present, and the taxi ride here."  
  
"You actually rode in a taxi? Through the London streets?" Michael looked at Max incredulously. "You're a brave man, Maxwell."  
  
"What's the matter with the taxis?" Kyle asked perplexedly.  
  
"It's not the taxis that are the problem, it's the way people drive in this city!" Michael exclaimed. "It's pure chaos…I'll take the subway any day!"  
  
"Michael! How many times have I told you that here it's called the Underground! Here a subway is a pedestrian walkway below the street!" Maria's voice was soft and gently teasing, but Michael sighed theatrically anyway.  
  
"Do you see what I put up with?" he groaned. Kyle's grin flashed.  
  
"I see it, man. Boy am I glad I don't have to put up with that!"  
  
Max glanced at his watch.  
  
"Hey, if we want to be on time for the show, we should probably head out to eat in about twenty minutes."  
  
The girls' heads snapped up.  
  
"WHAT?" they exclaimed together.  
  
"Why didn't you tell us that twenty minutes ago?" demanded Maria.  
  
"Because then it would have been in about forty minutes?" Michael suggested.  
  
Maria sent and acid look Michael's way then dragged Liz through the door that connected the boys and girls' rooms.  
  
Twenty-five minutes later the group was climbing into a London cab.  
  
"I don't know how you guys talked me into this," Michael muttered. "It's not like I have a death wish or anything."  
  
"Michael, we aren't going to die," Maria said matter-of-factly. "And anyway, I think it will be fun. WHOA!" The exclamation escaped her lips as the cab hurled itself away from the curb and onto the busy London streets.  
  
A scant ten minutes later the cabbie dropped them off at a small pub a block and a half down from the theatre. The group filed into the pub and sat down to eat. They enjoyed their meals and got to the play on time. After the play, they took another short yet wild cab ride back to the hotel. They sat in the boys' room and discussed their upcoming plans.  
  
"Max and I were thinking of taking a trip down to Stonehenge tomorrow," Liz began. "We might have to stay in a B&B down there for a night, but we might not. Anybody want to come?"  
  
Maria glanced at Michael and then replied,  
  
"Michael and I were actually going to indulge Michael and spend the day at Sega World and Legoland. He's such a child, but I'm humoring him."  
  
Liz smiled and looked toward Kyle.  
  
"No, I'd rather not be the third wheel, thanks. I'll just do some exploring by myself."  
  
"Okay then." Liz stood up and crossed to the door that connected the boys' room with the girls' room. "Max and I have to leave pretty early tomorrow, so I want to get to bed early." She leaned down to Max, who was sitting in an armchair by the door. "I love you," she whispered, then kissed his cheek and slipped through the door.  
  
Maria squeezed Michael's hand and kissed his cheek before murmuring goodnight to Max and Kyle and following Liz into their room.  
  
Kyle got up from the floor in front of the small television in the room and headed towards the bathroom. As he passed Max, he gave him a hearty smack on the shoulder.  
  
"Might have to stay in a B&B for a night, huh? You're a lucky man, Max Evans. A lucky man."  
  
Max glanced helplessly at Michael, who simply smirked, rolled over, and went to sleep. 


	2. All-Access Stonehenge

1 Part 2 – Stonehenge  
  
Max gazed thoughtfully out the window of the train as it sped across the English countryside. He found the flat green farmland beautiful in its own way, but found himself thinking of the vast stretches of New Mexico desert with a slight tinge of homesickness. He liked visiting England, but so far he had seen nothing that would keep him away from the desert he loved.  
  
Liz, who was sleeping peacefully on Max's shoulder, shifted slightly and Max tightened his arm around her. He hadn't found anything that could keep him away from the girl he loved either. He looked down at the top of her head and smiled. They had been through so much, and yet here she was with him anyway. He never stopped being grateful for that. He lifted up thanks to whatever fates controlled their joint destiny and placed a soft kiss on the top of Liz's head before turning his gaze out to the English countryside once more.  
  
His thoughts turned to Stonehenge. He had always wanted to visit it. No one knew exactly what it was for, and Max had no reason to believe it had anything to do with Antar, yet he had always felt a certain pull from the ancient stone circle. He figured it wouldn't hurt to visit. He had been disappointed to discover that visitors were no longer allowed to walk right up to the stones, but he a resigned himself to that fact and had decided he could soak up atmosphere just as well at a distance of fifty feet.  
  
Soon the train pulled into a small village. Max woke Liz and they got off the train. At the train station they were lucky enough to find cars for hire. Max, wielding his tourist's driver's license, took to the country roads with no trouble at all. Unlike Liz, he didn't even flinch when passed by a huge truck on what would have been classified as one lane in America.  
  
Within a short period of time Max and Liz arrived at Stonehenge.  
  
"Max!" Liz exclaimed. "There it is!"  
  
Max turned down the road to the carpark and took a second look at the circle.  
  
"It's amazing, isn't it, Liz?"  
  
"I'll say," she agreed, and jumped out of the car as soon as Max parked. They paid the admission fee and headed towards the tunnel that went under the road separating the carpark and gift shop from the stones.  
  
When they reached the stones, they were surprised to realize that the barriers between the path around the circle and the circle itself were open.  
  
"That's weird," Max murmured, tugging Liz toward the nearest employee. "Excuse me," he asked, "but I thought the stones were off limits to visitors."  
  
"Today only there's full access. Enjoy!"  
  
"Cool," breathed Liz, and she tugged Max towards the stones. Max followed without argument.  
  
"You know, Liz, I've always felt like I had to come see Stonehenge…like had to…" Max trailed off, unsure how to say what he meant.  
  
"Me too, Max. So let's go, yes?"  
  
Max nodded as they entered the stone circle. Liz dropped Max's hand and began to wander inside, trailing her fingers along the stones as she passed. She breathed deeply, and she almost believed she caught the scent of flowers though there were none on the hill. She stopped at one of the complete archways as her fingers encountered markings in the stone. She crouched down, expecting to see modern carvings from before the site was closed off. When she saw the writing however, she dropped to her knees in shock.  
  
"Max!"  
  
Max was at her side in an instant, crouched down and looking worriedly at her face.  
  
"What is it Liz? What's wrong?"  
  
Liz didn't speak, only pointed to the writing carved into the huge stone. Max shifted his gaze to the stone. What he saw turned his blood to ice.  
  
It was Antarian writing. The whole group had learned the language after Tess had left. Max had thought it would be helpful if they all knew it. He read the words in a shaky voice:  
  
"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves. We are going away to defy the stars, and no earthly ships will bring us home again. Time is, time was, time shall be." Max broke off, then said to Liz, "It's signed." She nodded.  
  
"Maxwell and Elizabeth." She looked deep into Max's eyes. "What does it mean, Max? What can it possibly mean?"  
  
"I don't know, Liz."  
  
"Pretty writing, isn't it?" a voice said behind them. Startled, Max and Liz jumped up, Max standing protectively in front of Liz. Realizing it was just an employee, they relaxed so quickly, the employee didn't even notice that for moments they had been battle-ready.  
  
"Uh, yeah," Max ventured. "Do you know what it means or when it was carved?"  
  
The employee shook his head.  
  
"No, but it's been here as long as we've own the place. So far as I know, the Druids who use the place don't know either. It's just there. Hope you're enjoying your visit." With a cheerful smile the employee was gone, leaving Max and Liz standing frozen in front of the archway, staring down at the carving. Liz shivered involuntarily, and Max wrapped an arm around her shoulders.  
  
"I think we should go, Max."  
  
"I agree."  
  
Max kissed Liz's temple as they walked blindly towards the pathway back to the gift shop…through the archway.  
  
They felt a sudden cold wind and for a second they could almost hear the stones sing. The force of the wind knocked them to their knees, and Max pulled Liz protectively to his chest. Frightened, she buried her face in the curve where his neck and shoulder met and shut her eyes tightly. Then, as quickly as it had started, the wind and music stopped and all was still and quiet.  
  
Max opened his eyes, expecting to see a paved road, cars, and a large building.  
  
"Shit…" he breathed. He did not see those things. He saw rolling plains and wild horses.  
  
Liz pulled out of Max's embrace and stared at Max, echoing the sentiment he'd expressed upon seeing their surroundings. He was wearing, and so was she for that matter, what appeared to be the clothing of Elizabethan peasants. 


	3. Make Your Own Destiny

1 Part 3 – Rural England during the reign of Elizabeth I  
  
Max and Liz got shakily to their feet.  
  
"Max…" Liz wrapped her arms tightly around Max's waist from behind, and stood on tiptoe to peer over his shoulder at the scene before them. Where there had been a paved road, there was now a dirt trail that looked as though it might be used by someone herding sheep. Where there had been a gift shop, there was now and empty field. They turned in a slow half- circle, taking in the view, until they were facing Stonehenge again.  
  
Max was relieved to find that there was something that appeared to not have changed. He unwrapped Liz's arms from his waist and took her hand in his. Wary now of the stones, they practically tiptoed around them until they came to a gap where a stone had fallen and no archway remained.  
  
There was nobody in the circle, and they couldn't see anyone nearby. They wandered the circle aimlessly, half expecting someone to jump out and explain what had happened. Of course no one did, and finally they sat down in the center to try to puzzle out what to do.  
  
Liz lay out on the grass with her head on Max's legs. She stared up at his face. He was thinking so hard she could practically see him doing it. She turned her face to the sky. There were lots of clouds, but there were patches of blue peeking through. Liz stifled a laugh. Even the weather had changed; before they'd experienced whatever it was they'd experienced, it had been threatening to rain. The clouds above them now may have been obscuring the sun, but rain was not imminent.  
  
She began to go over the experience again in her mind. She and Max had been walking through the stones. She'd been idly trailing her fingers over the rocks and had felt writing carved into one of them. She'd stopped then, and stooped down to read the inscription, expecting a modern inscription like so-and-so was here. The writing had been in Antarian letters. They'd asked the employee about the age of the writing…  
  
"Max!" Liz exclaimed as she quickly got to her feet. "The writing on the stone…the person we asked about it didn't know how old it was…"  
  
Max was on his feet and over to the stone faster than Liz could blink.  
  
"Liz…it's gone." Liz hurried to Max's side.  
  
"Are you sure? Are you sure it wasn't one of the other stones?"  
  
"I'm sure, Liz." Liz began to pace agitatedly. She took deep even breaths. She could be calm under pressure in the present…she could be calm under pressure in the past as well. She stopped pacing.  
  
"We have to think. I'd say it's a fair guess we've gone back in time. Judging from our clothes…I'd say…what do you think? Elizabethan?"  
  
Max shrugged.  
  
"Looks about right to me."  
  
Liz nodded.  
  
"Okay, so let's assume then that we are in Elizabethan England. So how did we get here?" She began to calmly pace, simply as if it was conducive to thinking. "We saw the carving, we read it, then we walked through the archway made by the stones." She fell silent. "Were you touching the stone when you walked by?"  
  
Max thought for a moment.  
  
"Nope. So that couldn't be it."  
  
"So why didn't it work when we walked back through?"  
  
Max did not reply, and they both began to pace slow, thoughtful circles inside the stone ring. Max found himself in front of the stone that had been carved. He gazed at it for a few seconds, and an idea began to form in his mind.  
  
"Hey Liz…maybe it has to do with the carving."  
  
Liz came over and stood by his side.  
  
"You think maybe the reason we can't get back through is because the carving isn't there?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"You could be right." Liz turned in a slow circle, taking in the virtually empty English countryside. "So now what?"  
  
Max sighed and pulled Liz into his arms.  
  
"I don't know." Liz tucked her head into the curve of his neck and he kissed the top of her head.  
  
Suddenly they heard the sound of hoofbeats. They immediately tensed, poised to flee if they needed to. As they nervously watched, two people on horseback made the top of the hill, cantering along the sheep trail. Max and Liz hurried behind a huge stone as the riders approached the circle.  
  
The riders left their horses outside the circle, dismounting and walking in hand in hand. Max and Liz, from their vantage point, realized one of the riders was a woman and one was a man. Their minds raced as the two riders embraced and began kissing.  
  
"Max," Liz whispered. "Do you think that's them?"  
  
"Maxwell and Elizabeth?" Max whispered back. "Yeah…I do."  
  
"Maybe we should talk to them…you know…see how the heck they know Antarian letters, among other things."  
  
"I see your point…but we can't just pop up from behind the rock!"  
  
"Okay…" Liz glanced out the other side of the circle. "We'll walk in from the other side of the circle. Walking in…they wouldn't be able to hear us approach except by our talking."  
  
"Okay…let's try it."  
  
They crawled out of the circle and beyond it, to the edge of the hill. Then they turned around and began walking back towards the circle. They spoke in normal tones, hoping Maxwell and Elizabeth wouldn't leave when they heard them.  
  
They were relieved to see that they hadn't. Liz decided to break the ice.  
  
"Oh! Good day. We didn't think anyone would be here."  
  
Elizabeth, like Liz, also decided to be the first to speak.  
  
"Many come to the stones. They are a place of great power."  
  
"Great power…" Liz echoed. "Yes, they are that."  
  
"What are your names?" Max asked, valiantly keeping the apprehension out of his voice. Liz heard it anyway and unobtrusively slipped her hand into his.  
  
Elizabeth eyed them cautiously and turned to Maxwell. She put her hand on his shoulder and stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. He looked at her sharply, then nodded in response to whatever she had asked.  
  
"Can we trust you?" she asked.  
  
"Of course."  
  
"I thought so. Our names are Maxwell and Elizabeth." Elizabeth took Maxwell's hand, then gestured for Max and Liz to sit on the ground. "Let us sit down. It is a long story."  
  
Max and Liz sat enthralled as Elizabeth told them how she and Maxwell had fallen in love despite the fact that he was of noble birth and betrothed to another and she was a commoner. They had been meeting in secret for months when Elizabeth witnessed the landing of strange craft. The beings on the craft looked human, and when Elizabeth approached them, they did her no harm, only talked to her until she realized that she had to get back to her house. She had felt a strange trust in these people, and had told them her story.  
  
She thought she'd seen the last of them, but one day a week or so later, one of the beings showed up at one of her and Maxwell's secret meeting places just as they were getting ready to leave. The being had offered them a way to be together, but they would have to leave the Earth with the beings when they left. The being, who said his name was Larek, explained that on a planet which neighbored his, the people were growing restless and needed a king and queen. None on the planet were smart enough or strong enough to rule for very long. In Maxwell and Elizabeth, Larek saw the promise of greatness. He gave them two weeks to consider and told them that if they wanted to come, they were to meet him at Stonehenge at the end of the two weeks.  
  
"So we thought about it," Maxwell put in, "and here we are. We don't know where we are going, except that it is out in space somewhere and that it is called Antar. All we know is that there we can do as we've always wanted and create our own destiny."  
  
Max and Liz were shocked at what they heard. These were Max's ancestors! The very people who had started the royal line of Antar were from Earth, and they were star-crossed lovers named Maxwell and Elizabeth. Liz squeezed Max's hand, a gesture that both offered strength and asked for strength. Max squeezed back.  
  
"That's very romantic," Liz commented. "Max and I…we have had the same sort of problems in being together. But we are now and that's all that matters. I hope you and Maxwell are as lucky as Max and I were."  
  
"We hope so, too," answered Elizabeth. She rose from the ground and pulled Maxwell to his feet. Maxwell strode over to their hobbled horses and drew a hammer and chisel out of a saddlebag.  
  
"We just have one more thing to do before Larek shows up." So saying, Maxwell knelt in front of one of the huge stones and began carving.  
  
"Max!" Liz whispered. "The carving. He's carving now."  
  
"But the carving was in Antarian letters!" Max whispered back.  
  
Liz walked over and knelt beside Maxwell.  
  
"What are you writing?"  
  
"A message. Larek said to carve a message into the rock. He said it would become important later. That it would help others who would come after us discover their true destiny…or at least how to defy the stars as we have done."  
  
Maxwell finished his carving and got up. Liz barely stifled a gasp when she saw that he had carved the words in the Antarian letters. She traced her fingers over them briefly, then got up and turned to Maxwell and Elizabeth, who gazing at the sky expectantly.  
  
"What language is that?"  
  
Elizabeth turned her head to Liz. Maxwell continued to stare at the sky.  
  
"The words are English. It is simply different letters. We made up that code for our letters to each other so that no one could read them."  
  
"Oh," Liz said faintly.  
  
Just then, a great ship appeared suddenly out of the sky and landed in the wheat field near the stones. The door opened and a tall man in a gray-blue jumpsuit strode out. He met Maxwell and Elizabeth halfway between the stones and the ship. Max and Liz stayed glued to the spots they were standing in when the ship landed, Max having come to stand beside Liz with his arm protectively around her.  
  
Larek, Maxwell, and Elizabeth appeared to be conversing for a few moments, then Larek gestured towards the ship then towards the stones. Maxwell nodded, and taking Elizabeth's hand, continued walking on towards the ship. Larek began to walk towards the stones.  
  
He glanced towards Max and Liz as he passed. He knelt by Maxwell's carving, put his hand over it and mumbled a few words. The letters glowed briefly under his hands then returned to normal. Larek walked over to Max and Liz and stared intensely into Max's eyes.  
  
"You can return to your proper time now, Your Highness."  
  
Max's eyes widened. "What…"  
  
"It's all right. This was fated. You had to see where you came from. Who you came from." Larek's gaze shifted to Liz. "Who you're meant to be with."  
  
"I don't understand…" Max began, only to be cut off by Larek.  
  
"You aren't meant to…you only have to know that Antar was saved once by defiance of someone else's idea of destiny. The rest is up to you."  
  
"You aren't the Larek I knew, are you?" Max asked.  
  
"No. But I am his ancestor as surely as Maxwell and Elizabeth are yours. I have seen the future…it can be great if you believe in the power of love over destiny."  
  
With those words, Larek turned and walked back to the ship. The huge door closed behind him, and moments later the ship sped off into the atmosphere in a burst of white light.  
  
"My God…" Liz said softly. Max pulled her into his arms and held her tightly.  
  
"Do you know what this means for us?" he questioned.  
  
"I'm afraid to believe it…I want it so badly."  
  
Max kissed the top of her head tenderly.  
  
"I think we can believe it, baby. I think we can believe it."  
  
Liz leaned into Max's embraced contentedly, then pulled back sharply when she thought of telling Maria all she'd seen and heard.  
  
"Max! We have to get back to our time! God only knows how long we've been gone in out time. And anyway we have to tell the others!"  
  
"You're right," Max said. He looked out over the countryside wistfully. "I almost feel safer here, though. None of my enemies would ever find us here. What?" he asked, when he noticed that Liz was staring incredulously at the wheat field.  
  
"They might be able to find you by looking at that." Max focused his gaze towards where Liz was pointing.  
  
"That's…that's a crop circle!"  
  
"Left by Larek's ship."  
  
"So it is true that some of them are from alien visitations!"  
  
Liz laughed softly at the proud amazement in Max's voice.  
  
"Yes, Max, but I think we should go now. The stones probably work now, I bet that's what Larek did to them."  
  
"I know, Liz. Let's go."  
  
Max and Liz made their way over to the archway. Taking a deep breath, Max pulled Liz close to his side and stepped through the arch. As before, a cold wind and the strange sound of the stone music buffeted them. This time, however, they managed to stay on their feet and come out on the other side still standing. 


	4. Knots and Loose Ends

Part Four – London, Present-day  
  
Max and Liz burst into the girls' hotel room early in the morning, before dawn. They had rushed from Stonehenge to the car rental drop-off and straight to the train without checking to see how long they'd been gone. Liz hurried to Maria's bed and shook her awake while Max ran through the connecting door and woke up Michael and Kyle.  
  
"Wha…Liz?" Maria's voice was groggy. "Liz, what are you doing here?"  
  
"How long have Max and I been gone, Maria?"  
  
Maria reached over and turned on the bedside lamp.  
  
"What are you talking about chica? You've been gone a day, like you said you'd be. Of course, we thought you'd decided to stay in a B&B…but obviously not. The honeymoon over?"  
  
"Huh? No. We went…"  
  
"You went WHERE?" Michael's startled voice interrupted Liz from the other room.  
  
"Shh, Michael. Liz," Max called, "group meeting over here, okay?"  
  
"Yeah," Liz replied. "C'mon Maria, we'll explain."  
  
Maria and Liz crossed into the boys' room and sat down with Michael and Max. Kyle was sitting up in his bed, leaning against the headboard and looking expectantly at Max and Liz as they settled down on Max's bed.  
  
"So, Max…you said you went back in time?" he questioned.  
  
"Back in TIME?" Maria shouted. She began babbling incoherently in a way that reminded Liz of the way she babbled once she finished screaming after learning that Max was an alien.  
  
"Maria, be quiet! Let us explain."  
  
"How…why…umm…okay, Liz, sorry."  
  
Max took Liz's hand and began to explain what had happened, starting with the Antarian writing on the stone and ending with Larek's words to him. Liz broke in periodically to give her take on something. Michael, Maria, and Kyle sat and listened without speaking.  
  
"So we rushed back here as fast as we could because we couldn't be sure of how long we'd been gone and we wanted to tell you guys what had happened as soon as we could," Max finished softly.  
  
"Wow…" breathed Maria.  
  
"Do you know what that means, Maxwell?" Michael used the name with more emphasis than usual.  
  
"What, Michael?"  
  
"That all this time while we thought that we were gonna have extra problems because we were going against what we were told was our destiny…we were really making it easier…doing it right!" Michael pulled Maria in close to his side. "We don't have to be the Royal Four…we can be the Royal Six."  
  
"Yeah…" Max said, then kissed Liz's head.  
  
Kyle, who had been sitting on his bed listening intently, suddenly got up and started pulling on his jeans.  
  
"Kyle?" Liz ventured. "What are you doing?"  
  
Kyle glanced over at Liz, then headed towards the door.  
  
"You said the ship left a crop circle?"  
  
"Yeah," Liz said, perplexed.  
  
"I'll be right back."  
  
"Okay…" Liz looked up into Max's puzzled eyes. "I wonder what that's all about." She looked towards Michael and Maria, who shrugged and shook their heads.  
  
Minutes later Kyle came striding back in, a tabloid newspaper in his hand.  
  
"Look at this." He handed the newspaper to Max and Liz. Max looked over the headline and quickly scanned the story before reading aloud to the rest.  
  
"Crop circle appears near Avebury. Multiple UFO sightings reported in the area."  
  
Liz gaped.  
  
"You don't think…" Max started to shake his head as if to imply he didn't know, when suddenly a picture of the circle caught his eye.  
  
"Michael…look a the picture…do you recognize that symbol?"  
  
Michael took the paper from Max and stared intensely at the picture for a few seconds. He started to shake his head, then a stunned look crept into his eyes.  
  
"Michael?" Maria shook Michael gently, as he seemed to be spacing out.  
  
"It's my symbol…my family's…like medieval heraldry, we had symbols. I just remembered from looking at this circle." Michael's amazed gaze flew to Max. "You remembered, too."  
  
"Yeah." Max got up and strode over to the small writing desk. He picked up the pen and drew something on the hotel stationary. "This was my family's symbol."  
  
Liz looked at it and gasped.  
  
"Max! That bit at the center is on the necklace you gave me when you thought you were leaving!"  
  
"Yeah…I think that meant that the person with that necklace was going to be a part of the royal house but wasn't yet."  
  
"Like an engagement ring…" she said smiling dreamily into Max's eyes.  
  
Kyle had been watching the proceedings and putting things together rapidly as Max and Michael were still trying to dredge up any more shards of memory from the symbols.  
  
"So if that crop circle is in the shape of Michael's symbol…that must mean that whoever landed the ship here must have been part of Michael's family."  
  
Michael's eyes lit up then dimmed slightly as he remembered something else.  
  
"Actually, the symbols were more for clans like in Scotland than families like in England. So we could be only very distantly related. If I recall correctly, people in the clans even married each other as long as they weren't directly related…like brother and sister or cousins."  
  
"But still, Michael…" Maria said hopefully, squeezing his hand as she did so, "whoever that was is in the same clan as you…which is as good as family, yes?"  
  
Michael gazed off into nothing for a few seconds before replying.  
  
"My family…" Michael turned to Max. "I have to go check it out…see what the real story is."  
  
Max nodded.  
  
"I'm coming, too," Maria stated firmly.  
  
Max nodded again.  
  
"We'll leave as soon as the next train to the near vicinity of Avebury leaves." 


End file.
